Winning work: How S4M helped Lego take the chat out of the bot

We all know how difficult finding the perfect gift for children can be. Are the parts too small? Is it age appropriate? Can they use it safely? Will they like it?

Factor in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season with its different products, seasonal sales and crowded stores and the result is a lot of frazzled parents. In addition to the holiday shopping stress, they look for assistance when searching for the most suitable toys for their children as well as information on where to purchase specific products.

Faced with this situation and in the name of the Christmas spirit, Lego, the international toy maker, wanted to help facilitate the gift shopping experience. And, of course, to raise awareness of Lego franchises and retailers.

In order to do so, S4M partnered with global media network Carat to come up with an innovative and creative way of reaching parent shoppers during this competitive season.

We wanted the chatbot campaign to reflect Lego’s brand identity and include a seasonal Christmas angle. In terms of performance, the advertiser wanted to promote a selection of specific products, raise awareness of alternative retailers, such as Lego franchises, and deliver an intuitive mobile-first experience.

With this in mind, we decided to try something new. We ran an innovative campaign which provided time-strapped parents with their very own personal shopper, via the Santa chatbot, thus enabling them to directly engage with the brand.

Our research found parents with school-age children across Singapore were spending most of their internet time on mobiles compared to other devices and so chose to target them uniquely through this medium.

To ensure successful engagement, we identified convenience and helpfulness as two key criteria. We knew parents are very receptive to expert recommendations, typically seeking advice from in-store sales staff on products before purchase. This was further cemented by the fact that often, they did not know the difference between Lego franchises and were struggling to find toys suitable for their children.

Throughout this campaign, our creative and media strategy was to deliver an innovative mobile-native shopping experience that was personalised to each target consumer. The chatbot brought the experience of talking with a Lego salesperson in-store, directly to the fingertips of each parent via their smartphone.To deliver maximum convenience, the strategy displayed ecommerce and in-store purchase options directly within the chatbot. This helped shorten the path to purchase and boosted sales throughout the campaign.

Lastly, we ensured that the campaign retained Lego’s signature brand identity as well as a Christmas angle to remain relevant and to stand out.

The Lego Santa chatbot was a huge success among the targeted holiday shoppers. Lego saw a 77% sales uplift for Christmas 2017 compared to the previous month’s performance. Products recommended by Lego Santa chatbot also saw an impressive +300% sales uplift compared to the weeks prior to the campaign activation. What can we say? Christmas is indeed the most wonderful time of the year!James Rogers is Managing Director APAC at S4M